One of the things I’ve been doing a lot of since we’ve moved into our new house is choosing window treatments. Allllllllll of our curtains and blinds from the townhouse stayed with the townhouse (and wouldn’t have fit in the new house anyway), so we totally started from scratch!
A huge thanks to SelectBlinds for providing the bamboo shades for this post. My favorable opinion of gorgeous, high quality window treatments is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
So far we’ve put blackout Roman shades in the Cs’ room (because sleeping children were my #1 priority 🙂 )…
…and pretty plantation shutters in the front rooms downstairs: the dining room and the bathroom. (Side note: who puts a bathroom with a window in the very front of the house?! Like literally right by the porch. We had to cover that up ASAP!)
Then it was time to move on to the back of the house in the downstairs spaces. We LOVE all of the windows in the back of the house because they allow us to look over the gorgeous view– farmland, rolling hills, mountains, and the big blue sky! The sun can get harsh, though, so we needed to have some way to block it a bit at times.
view out the back windows
After looking at a bazillionty (totally a word) pictures on Pinterest and in magazines, I decided that bamboo shades would be the perfect option for us. They would bring in some texture and interest to the space, block the light when we needed them to, and look beautiful open when we didn’t. Believe it or not, we had never had bamboo shades before, so I set out to do some research and pick the best ones for our space.
Deciding How to Mount Bamboo Shades
The first thing I needed to do was decide how I wanted to mount the shades. Should we go with an inside or outside mount? There were pros and cons to both. I read this awesome post by Young House Love where they recommended using an outside mount and mounting the shades above the actual window to make the windows look taller and more grand, which totally made sense.
But I also knew that we were planning on trimming out all of the windows in our house with some chunky, beautiful craftsman style trim, and the last thing I wanted to do was to cover that all up! So for us, I decided that the best option would be an inside mount so that the bamboo shades would compliment the pretty trim work without interfering with it.
our living room windows with new trim
Choosing a Color and Style of Bamboo Shades
Once I had decided how I would mount our shades, the next decision was to choose a color/style. Did you know that there are approximately 786 million different colors and styles of bamboo shades out there to choose from? Okay, so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but there are a lot of options!
Again, I scoured the internet looking at examples of different types of bamboo shades, making note of what I liked and didn’t like. After I had gotten an idea of the type of look I was leaning toward, I decided to order some samples. This was an absolutely essential piece of the process.
Samples!
It is so hard to tell exact color and texture from a little square on a computer screen, so seeing a piece of the shade in person really helped me figure out which would be the perfect choice for us. I ordered our samples from SelectBlinds, who provides them for FREE (woot!), so that was a definite bonus!
Here are some of the options we considered:
Light Options
1. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Jute Natural | 2. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Natural
Medium Options
1. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Abaca | 2. Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Antigua Seagrass | 3. Premier Bamboo Shades in Maize
4. Woven Wood Shades in Mindanao Sandal | 5. Tropical Isle Bamboo Shades in Bamboo Tortoise | 6. Shoreline Woven Wood Shades in Boldo
7. Tropical Isle Bamboo Shades in New Guinea Natural | 8. Tropical Isle Bamboo Shades in New Guinea Camel
Dark Options
1. Premier Bamboo Shades in Sapele | 2. Premier Bamboo Shades in Carapa
So many choices, right?! Since we have dark hardwood floors, I ended up eliminating the dark options because I knew that they could easily clash if they were similar but not exactly the same. I also tend toward a lighter aesthetic in our house and didn’t want the shades to make our rooms feel dark or heavy.
Since I use a lot of white in my decorating, I also eliminated the lighter options because once I had the samples and looked at them next to all of the white, they looked more yellow-ish, which wasn’t the look I was going for in our space.
So that left me with the “medium” options, and there were a lot of them! Ultimately I ended up going with the Designer Series Woven Wood Shades in Bali Abaca because I liked how they brought in both gray-ish and tan-ish tones, which helped me bring together some of the neutrals I was planning to use in our space.
Measuring and Installing the Bamboo Shades
We measured each of windows to get their exact measurements. Even in our house that is a new build, windows that are “the same” can vary by up to 1/2″, so we measured them individually in order to get the best fit possible. Having a perfect custom fit makes a huge difference as opposed to trying to rig an off-the-shelf shade from the home improvement store– it looks neat and clean and makes installation simple.
The blinds were designed to attach to the top of the window frame, so we measured to determine where to install the bracket so it would match up with the opening on the blinds.
Donnie then used his cordless drill to mount the brackets in place…
…then we slid the blinds onto the brackets, tightened two wing nuts to secure them, and they were good to go!
One of the things I love about SelectBlinds’ bamboo shades is that they are cordless, so I don’t need to worry about the boys getting caught in the cords and hurting themselves. It is so easy to pull them down with the little ring hidden on the back of the shade, and then pull down to release them back up again when we want to enjoy the view outside.
I absolutely love the look of the shades in our space, and I think they’re a perfect compliment to the trim work Donnie worked so hard to install! I may bring in curtains eventually, but right now I’m loving the windows as they are!
If you’re looking to install some beautiful bamboo shades or other window treatments in your own home, SelectBlinds is offering Just a Girl and Her Blog readers an additional 5% off any sale they’re currently having on their site when you use the code ABBY at checkout— hooray for savings! We have been absolutely thrilled with the look and quality of all of the window treatments we’ve ordered from SelectBlinds and could not recommend them more highly!
Have you chosen and installed bamboo shades in your house? I’d love to hear your thoughts about them in the comments!
Have a wonderful week!
A huge thanks to SelectBlinds for providing the bamboo shades for this post. My favorable opinion of gorgeous, high quality window treatments is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
Abby, I just love the blinds! But in some of my windows I would need a privacy factor. Do they come with liners?
Yes! SelectBlinds has both “privacy liner” and “blackout liner” options, so if privacy is a concern, you can definitely use those to help! Hope you’re having a great day, Pat!
~Abby =)
Great walk through, Abby! I have always been hesitant about buying blinds online, but you make it seem seamless!
It really was super easy! 🙂 Hope you’re having a great week, Holly!
~Abby =)
Hi Abby,
Those shades look beautiful and I like how they bring in light even when they’re rolled down. It gives a rustic, farmhouse vibe, which I love 🙂 It’s so great you’re trying out different options for your new home – it definitely helps us readers make informed decisions!
Thanks,
Briana
You are so sweet, Briana! Thank you! Hope you’re having a wonderful week!
~Abby =)
Great read! I am wanting some new window treatments – def bookmarking this post for reference.
Thank you so much, Jan! Best of luck with your choices! 🙂
~Abby =)
I don’t have bamboo shades, but I have purchased faux wood and aluminum blinds from Select Blinds and have been very happy with both their products and service. I also really appreciated that they send samples as it helped me narrow my choices.
Yes! So helpful!
~Abby =)
The shades are super beautiful! I would have never considered bamboo. Did you use bamboo anywhere else?
Thanks Abby!
So far just the back of the house downstairs– so Donnie’s office, the living room, and the sunroom. But we still have a few more rooms to choose treatments for, so we’ll see! 🙂
~Abby =)
Those look beautiful! Thank you for the helpful post. Interestingly, I scanned through the swatches and picked the one you picked right away. I read through and saw that was what you chose! The woven look is perfect!
FEEL BETTER SOON, ABBY ! GREAT INFO, MANY THANKS !!
We have bamboo shades in our downstairs (my office, the family room, and on the French doors in our kitchen) and I LOVE them. One of the things I love about ours is that they are designed to go up but can also pull down from the top – when I want light but also want some privacy. We also have white filter shades behind them when the bamboo lets in too much glare or we want additional privacy – the filters pull up all the way behind the bamboo mount, so they’re completely invisible when I want them to be. Love them!
They look really awesome, but so does everything else! Love it. We moved into an old fixer upper almost 2 years ago that had NO window coverings in the city! It took us awhile to figure out what we wanted. And then people were sad because they could no longer spy on us while driving by. lol! We need some light filtering for the kitchen though and I really like the idea of bamboo! Thanks for sharing. I don’t know if I would have thought about that. 🙂
Hi Abby! I worry about them holding the dust, but at the same time they seem easy to vacuum. Let me know how you feel about cleaning these. Thanks 🙂
Hi, Clara! We’ve only had them for a few weeks, but so far, so good! They don’t seem to get dusty easily at all. Hope you’re having a great week!
~Abby =)
This is such a great and timely post for me. I am looking for blinds for my kitchen, and will check out Select Blinds.I am hoping some top down blinds and Select Blinds has them. Will post again when I have them up! I am so glad to know they were easy to install
Hi Abby,
I’ve been fighting this battle for a while. I couldn’t decide on whether I should go with light or dark blinds given the dark coloring of the new floor I’ve chosen.This post will most definitely help and I’m so glad you took time to introduce us to this new company.
Keep being awesome
KaSonndrs
Hi there! Question for you – do the blinds themselves cause for a glare on your tv? Not sure how exactly you have them placed. Or do you think a liner would be more beneficial? I want shades, but don’t want the room to be totally dark. We have a terrible glare from the window on our tv as they are opposite each other.
Our windows aren’t positioned in such a way that they cast light directly on the TV, so we’ve never had a problem with a glare. Light definitely filters through these shades, which is what we wanted to keep the space looking bright. If you’re worried about a glare on the TV, a liner may be the way to go.
~Abby =)
We live in a converted school bus and I really want to get bamboo shades for it but my husband didn’t like the light that came through, for some reason we had no idea that you could get a liner! Will be checking that out since we still have one “room” of the bus with temporary coverings
Oh, wow! How fun! Hope it works out for you, Chareen! <3
~Abby =)
Thanks so much for this article! I ordered my samples yesterday.
So glad it was helpful! Hope you love them! 🙂
~Abby =)
Hello, I love the3 bamboo blinds. We have a lake home that faces west with 2 story windows. I’m hoping to put bamboo shades with liners in each window to help keep sun out in the afternoon. Saves on fading fabric furniture. Not sure how to pull upper blinds down if up in peek areas. I’m still looking into what is best for 2 story windows, but love that look.
We love ours! Hope you figure out a great plan for your home! Have a great day, Wendy! <3
~Abby =)
Hi Abby, I’m looking at buying bamboo blinds for my windows in my great room, The floors are dark hardwood and the two leather couches are dark brown. What colour would you suggest for the blinds? Thanks so much!
Hi, Dianne! It’s really hard to know without being in your space and being able to see everything, but I would probably do a contrasting color, so something lighter, since it seems like you already have some darker tones. If you tried to do another darker brown, it might get tricky because if it doesn’t match exactly, it may look a bit off. I hope this helps!
~Abby =)